UGA may ask system for help on med campus

University of Georgia President Michael Adams reasserted his confidence this week that state legislators will provide funding to plan for a Medical College of Georgia expansion in Athens.

But for the first time, a senior UGA official hinted after Adams' monthly cabinet meeting that the university may turn to the University System of Georgia if the state fails to provide enough planning money in the 2008 budget. If legislators refuse to budget $3.8 million to plan for a medical school and research campus on the Navy Supply Corps School property, UGA may ask University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll Davis for funding help from the system's budget, said Tim Burgess, UGA senior vice president for finance and administration.

UGA and Medical College of Georgia officials are planning a joint medical research and teaching campus in Athens that they want to build on the Navy School property once the U.S. Department of Defense gives up the site in 2011. A local group responsible for determining how the based will be reused has favored the UGA-MCG plan.

Friday evening, a legislative committee tasked with creating the 2008 state budget, came up with a budget that included $2.8 million for expanding the state's production capacity for physicians, but didn't specify where that money will go.

The proposed budget also included $500,000 for an MCG residency program in Athens.

However, it was unclear Friday evening whether both chambers would approve the 2008 budget or whether Perdue would sign it.

Perdue included UGA's request for $3.8 million to plan the medical school campus in his proposed 2008 budget. But after the House cut the request and replaced it with $2.8 million to study expanding MCG in Augusta and $1 million for an MCG residency program in Athens, the Senate restored the original request.

"I have been optimistic with (our) success in the legislature thus far," Adams said during a press conference this week.

After talking with many "responsible" members of the legislature, Adams said his confidence that UGA will receive the $3.8 million is "not based on a wish."